James Cox lived at this home with his now-dead son, Henry Cox, police said. Henry Cox made child sexual abuse material, authorities said. Investigators said that James Cox uploaded illicit material. (Mug shot: Seminole County Jail; screenshot: WESH)
A Florida father and son are charged in a child pornography case, with James “Santa” Cox, 79, allegedly uploading abuse material online, while Henry Cox, 54, made such material in their home and at least one public restroom. The elderly father is facing the case alone. A spokesman for the St. Cloud Police Department told Law&Crime that the son died of an apparent suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to federal documents, the investigation started when the St. Cloud Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on Nov. 15, 2023. An unknown person uploaded abusive material to Microsoft BingImage, they said.
Cops said they tracked it down to the Cox home. On Jan. 17, 2024, a state judge approved a search warrant for the premises, and cops carried it out two days later.
“J. COX and H. COX were seen leaving the residence in separate cars and were subsequently stopped by patrol officers,” federal documents said. “SCPD made contact with J. COX and H. COX in their separate cars outside of the Subject Premises. J. COX admitted to possessing the images which triggered the Cyber Tip. J. COX also admitted in a Post-Miranda interview to looking for CSAM on the internet and using the Microsoft Bing Image to look for similar CSAM Images. J. COX was shown two images which triggered the CyberTip. J. COX acknowledged and initialed that those were the images he had seen and used to search for like CSAM images online.”
Post-Miranda, James Cox allegedly admitted to reviewing abuse material.
“A forensic analysis was completed by the Osceola County Sheriff`s Office (OCSO) on the computer J. COX stated he used to look for CSAM. SCPD was provided with the forensic results which show hundreds of thumbnail images of children being sexually abused and exploited,” they wrote. “The results also showed three videos which were deleted from the computer but were able to be recovered.”
Henry Cox denied having anything to know with it or knowing about it, authorities said. Investigators claim, however, that the son did not simply know about the material — he produced at least a number of it, directly abusing children.
“In some of the videos, the face of and/or voice of H. COX is captured as the person recording the video,” authorities wrote.
Homeland Security took in 15 electronic storage devices that investigators think belonged to Henry Cox.
As of the filing of the affidavit on March 1, they found more than “50 photos or videos” of abuse material, they wrote.
Some were made in Henry Cox’s bedroom, and some included other evidence showing that he made them, they said.
“File name 20221009_180001.mp4 is a color video without sound filmed in the stall of a public restroom,” they wrote. “H. COX can be seen in the mirror holding the recording device, which is a dark colored smartphone.”
Authorities claimed to also find a recording device during their search.
“Some CSAM media was observed to have been recorded from a partially obscured device at the floor level in a bathroom pointing at a toilet,” they wrote. “Other observed CSAM images were taken of a sleeping victim indicating the clandestine intent of the recordings. Additionally, during the execution of the search warrant at the Subject Premises, SCPD seized a ‘white light bulb camera’ which is believed to be a covert recording device.”
James Cox was arrested on Tuesday and remains at the Seminole County Jail, records show. Neighbors told Orlando NBC affiliate WESH he was known as “Santa.”
Henry Cox died of an apparent suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police spokesman Andrew Sullivan told Law&Crime on Thursday. Authorities believe it happened before they served a federal warrant. Investigators are working with the regional medical examiner’s office to confirm the details, Sullivan told Law&Crime.
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